Sunday, June 3, 2018

Alaska 2018 - Day 11: Vancouver, Stanley Park

Sunday morning, we grabbed breakfast at Tim Horton's and then got on the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour bus.

We rode the bus around downtown for a bit, and then continued on foot once we got to Stanley Park.



It was overcast, with a chance of light rain all day.



As with almost every tourist attraction on this trip (seemingly), there is a totem pole collection in the park.




Farther along the seawall path, in the southeast corner of the park, we found the 9 O'Clock Gun. (Interesting bit of history there.)






In case anyone was wondering, the water in the harbor of an industrial port city isn't necessarily good to swim in. At least, not in Vancouver's harbor.

You can see the (infamous?) yellow sulfur pile in the background, top right.



Not much past the canon, we walked through the Brockton Point Lighthouse.



As we rounded Brockton Point, we were able to see the Lions Gate Bridge in the distance.


Other highlights along the seawall path include Girl in a Wetsuit...


A replica of the figurehead from the RMS Empress of Japan...


A machine to blow-dry your kids, after they get wet playing in the fountain...


And the Lions Gate Bridge.




Just after crossing under the bridge, we found ourselves at Prospect Point Lighthouse.



It was at this point that we realized there are no paths/stairs from the seawall up to Prospect Point, so we doubled back to a switchback trail leading up the side of the hill.




At the top of the hill, we saw the bridge from a different angle on the way to the Prospect Point lookout.




It hadn't rained at all during the 2+ hours we had already spent walking around the park, but of course it started raining as soon as we got to the lookout.




Having had enough walking for the foreseeable future, we got back on the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus and continued around the perimited of Stanley Park, getting off at The Teahouse Restaurant for a late lunch.





It was after 4 PM when we left The Tea House and got back on the tour bus.



We stayed on the bus for the next hour or so, touring around and seeing the highlights of Vancouver. This included English Bay (Beach),  the Museum of VancouverBC Place (home of the Whitecaps), Science World, Granville Island, and everything in between.






We finished the tour in Gastown, home of the (one of the only) steam-powered clock.



Of course, we had to wait until the top of the hour to experience the chime.song.




Since I was the only one who had had a Belgian waffle at 3 PM, we were just about ready for dinner after experiencing the steam clock, so we spent some time researching our options.

Not finding many choices in the immediate vicinity, we hoofed it back to where we had first got on the tour bus, on Robson Street.



We settled on Thai food, at a casual noodle restaurant.

After dinner, Jason and I set out in search of a dark beer; it took a few tries, but we eventually found a gastropub with a decent beer menu (shout out to Timber).



It was after 8 PM when we left Timber, and we walked back to the apartment. Side note: Vancouver doesn't (as of June 2018, anyway) have Lyft or Uber.

We'll be up early tomorrow to take the train to the airport; our flight leaves around noon, and it's going to be a long day of travel.

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